1. Palomino to Santa Marta - 1.5 hours (note to self / pro tip: the availability of bus snacks are dependent on the time of the day. Daytime buses have more variety - like chips, nuts, popcorn, whole fruit or fruit nicely cut in cups - like sliced mango in cups with lemon juice and salt! But on this evening bus we only had ONE lady selling banana bread and brownie, which turned out to be pretty dry even though when she asked how it is Nic and I both smiled and…didn't say it was bad.)
2. Santa Marta to Bucaramanga - 8 hours, overnight, freezing cold (tip: buses in Colombia are usually cold, but not always, but quite often. Always be prepared.) I also realised here that I sleep better with a podcast on.
3. Bucaramanga to San Gil - was supposedly 3 hours but delayed by an hour because they oversold the bus. But I made a Colombian friend on the bus who showed me photos of his toddler and his own music videos on Instagram.
2. Santa Marta to Bucaramanga - 8 hours, overnight, freezing cold (tip: buses in Colombia are usually cold, but not always, but quite often. Always be prepared.) I also realised here that I sleep better with a podcast on.
3. Bucaramanga to San Gil - was supposedly 3 hours but delayed by an hour because they oversold the bus. But I made a Colombian friend on the bus who showed me photos of his toddler and his own music videos on Instagram.
San Gil - conquering fears!
II wasn’t actually planning on coming to San Gil at all. San Gil is often labelled 'the adventure capital of Colombia' and honestly I didn't have that much interest in adventure sports, but Nic told me about beautiful towns that are easily reachable from San Gil by day trips, and Nic and Stef were going to San Gil on their way to Bogotá, and I had time to kill before starting Spanish course in MedelliÃn, so rather than being a loner again I decided to join them. Because it’s (almost) always better to travel with people, especially when you have the time.
